The one metric ton of plutonium is weapons-grade. The targeted storage site is the so-called Nevada National Security Site, formerly called the Nevada Test Site.

Full-scale nuclear weapons were detonated at the NTS between 1951 and 1992 (including more than a decade of above-ground testing; one-third of underground tests nonetheless leaked to the atmosphere), resulting in countless cases of disease and death downwind.

The NNSS is located in Newe Sogobia, Western Shoshone Indian land, as acknowledged by the "peace and friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley, signed by the U.S. government in 1863.

The NNSS is also located near Yucca Mountain, also long targeted -- for the permanent dumping of high-level radioactive waste from both commercial atomic reactors, as well as the DOE nuclear weapons complex.

A major aspect of Nevada's lawsuit challenges the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration's lack of transportation safety and security planning, a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Article originally appeared on Beyond Nuclear (http://www.beyondnuclear.org/).